Born to be recycled
BIRMINGHAM
FACED with the increasing requirement to recycle their products, car
makers have come up with all sorts of schemes to tear vehicles apart once their working lives are over. Generally. the idea is to melt all the bits back into raw materials that can be used to build a new product. A few producers have considered putting their old models back through the production line so that they can be refurbished, but with the exception of a few cult vehicles such as the Morris Minor and the Volkswagen Beetle, buyers are reckoned to prefer new-look models. Could a humble motorcycle prove the theory wrong?
The idea comes from an odd source: the old British motorcycle industry, which was driven off the road in the 1970s by leaner Japanese competitors. A motor-cycle show which opened in Birmingham on October 25th showed that some British companies were fighting back—notably Triumph, which has captured a sixth of the market for bikes over 750cc. Less noticed was the Remarque Honda Super Dream CB25ON, a recycled Honda made by the BSA Group, a small Gloucestershire firm set up by two former directors of the old Norton Villiers Triumph.
The Super Dream hardly qualifies as a cult vehicle in the Harley Davidson class, but some 50,000 were sold in Britain before new legislation in the early 1980s limited learner motorcyclists to riding 125cc machines. The BSA Group aims to give the old Honda a new life by replacing some parts and rebuilding the rest. The British content by value of each motorcycle will be 45%—perhaps more, if BSA adds a new frame and other parts.
The finished product will sell for £1,695 ($2,500), which compares with about £3,000 for the closest 250cc model that Honda now makes. Weirdly, in many respects the reconditioned model will also be superior to its modern equivalent, because it was built to higher specifications, such as a six-speed gearbox. The BSA Group hopes to make 10-15 a week. If the Super Dream is a success it may recycle other models too.
Could this start a trend? Motorcycles are already environmentally friendly: they need fewer resources to make than cars and are cheaper to run. A recycled motorcycle is greener still. The habit could spread to cars. General Motors once thought of recycling its big old Cadillac convertibles, still one of the cars of choice for young Hollywood. But the real test will come with less fashionable models. Watch out for recycled Toyota Camrys and Ford Capris.
Source : The Economist Jan 1994
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